Weekly Recap
This week, we’ve been working on getting hardware together for our
upcoming installs locally here on the Cape as well as up in Maine.
George also took a day to do safety training with the folks at Fishing
Partnership Support Services. If you haven’t taken one of their
trainings, it’s helpful to get some hands on experience with survival
suits, flares, fire extinguishers, P-6 pumps, and more. If you’re a
commercial fisherman, you can also walk away with a heavily discounted
or free PFD. You can see their list of upcoming classes here.
There are safety and survival trainings coming up in Gloucester MA and
Portland ME.
This week, George also took a first stab at comparing forecasted
bottom temperatures to real data so that we can identify where the
forecasts match up with what you’re seeing on the water and where
they’re a little off. This type of analysis will hopefully help you all
know which model performs best in the areas you’re interested in.
Basically, the plots below show the difference between the most recent
forecast before an observation and the observation itself. For example,
an observation from fishing on 4/20 would be compared to the forecast
from 4/19. Places where observation was warmer than the forecast are
displayed as red; places where the observation was cooler than the
forecast are displayed as blue, and places where the observation and
forecast were within 1 degree (Celsius) of each other are white. This
plot uses eMOLT data and forecasts from the Doppio model over the last
month.

Over the last month, the model appears to have performed best on the
continental shelf east of New Jersey, but struggled a little along the
shelf break, off the backside of Cape Cod, and around Penobscot Bay.
I’m hoping to start incorporating these spatial model evaluations for
other bottom temperature products in the near future, so stay tuned, and
let me know if you have suggestions to make them better.
Announcements and Other News
The New England Fishery Management Council is hosting three
workshops to solicit public input on the Atlantic Cod Management
Transition Plan. For more information please click
here. The workshops are in Portland on 4/30, Wakefield MA on 5/1,
and South Kingstown RI on 5/2. All workshops beging at 0930.
On-demand lobster and Jonah crab gear testing is underway off
Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Science Center scientists are working
with commercial lobster vessels to test on-demand (ropeless) fishing
gear in state and federal waters normally closed to lobster and Jonah
crab fishing with static vertical lines. Testing in this area will occur
through April 30, 2024.

Because on-demand gear has no surface buoys, it won’t be visible at
the surface. To visualize the gear positions and orientations, mariners
can download and subscribe to the EdgeTech Trap Tracker app ($25) on the
Apple
or Google
Play app stores. For more information on this work, click here.
Mariners: There is a potential gear conflict area immediately west of
the Great South Channel in former Groundfish Closed Area 1. On-demand
gear in that area is set northwest to southeast in trawls approximately
1.5 nautical miles in length. If anyone accidentally tows up the
on-demand gear, don’t discard it. Hold onto the gear and contact our
Gear Research Team. Contact info can be found here.
All the best,
-George and JiM